Chocolate Chip Cookie Costume

I know this post is late, but I wanted to go ahead and share our Halloween costume this year. I purchased Abigail's original costume (ladybug) at a local consignment store's going-out-of-business sale over the summer, and then I saw this awesome costume at Pottery Barn Kids. I saw it hanging from the shelf, and exclaimed "What a great chocolate chip cookie costume!" My sister-in-law agreed, and picked it up. That's when we learned it was actually a giraffe costume. Normally, a giraffe costume would excite me also, but I'd already gotten obsessed with the idea of a chocolate chip cookie costume.

I started searching the internet looking for similar costumes or patterns for what I wanted, but I could not find the right costume for a toddler (a sandwich board is great, but I needed something that would work in a stroller, too). There were many ideas for how to make this work over the course of several weeks, but in the end we whipped the whole thing out in 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon (just in time for the zoo's Halloween party).

We had Abigail lie down on a folded out newspaper, then traced around her from her shoulders to her knees. Fortunately, we had enough muslin for two tries, because the first one was WAY too small. The costume is made out of muslin (for the cookie) and brown felt hot-glued on for chocolate chips. If I'd wanted a more durable costume, though, sewing the chips on would have been much better. Underneath, Abigail wore a pair of brown pants, and a long-sleeved shirt that I dyed using tea to make the right shade of brown (it was a hand-me-down that was badly stained - she may never have worn it otherwise).

Her tote bag says "Got Cookies." I hoped that would give a clue about her costume. I've been surprised by the number of people who thought this was a ladybug costume. If I had to do it over, I'd use a darker muslin or tea dye the muslin I had, or perhaps even use dark tan felt.


These are some of the ideas I found online that didn't work for me, but might for someone else:

• the sandwich board idea I mentioned
• this is a great costume, but you glue it closed while the child is wearing it - not practical for a toddler!